SAM LEAK & DAN TEPFER - Adrift
Jellymould: JM-JJ032
Sam Leak: piano; Dan Tepfer: piano
Recorded in January 2016 by Dan Tepfer at The Yamaha Showroom, Manhattan, New York
I wrote this review as my cat, Poppy, aged around 16, came to the end of her life. So, while I had listened to the album several times before sitting down to write the review, as I normally do, prior to writing the review, I was listening with an ailing cat wrapped in a blanket on my lap. I’m not sure whether this coloured my impressions of the music, but there is something liturgical in the structure of the pieces and a feeling that one is participating in, not only a musical development but also, a well-defined philosophical meditation. This might make the music sound a little maudlin or overly intellectual, but that is not the case. This is a set of 8 pieces (titled Adrift I to VIII) that Leak composed for the Steinway Festival in 2014.
The title comes from a line in a song that is the focal point for an album by Tom Waits (‘Alice’), and it is worth reminding ourselves of the lyrical context of this word, ‘and so a secret kiss. Brings madness with the bliss / And I will think of this. When I’m dead and in my grave / Set me adrift and I’m lost over there / and I must be insane. To go skating on your name / And by tracing it twice, I fell through the ice.” Hopefully, this will forgive my opening lines (assuming you’ve owned or lost a pet) but this does not explain the frailty that the closing lines express. While the pieces have a delicate logic, in Leak’s compositions, the music develops its own logic and themes that feel as if the duo are seeking ice that is less secure than that the original ideas might have charted. Not only does the music have its own language (working a delicate minimalism) but each player is able to speak it in his own idiom. At times it is not easy to work out who has taken the lead and who is providing support, although there is a clear demarcation of roles as the pieces develop. What is even more surprising here is how well the players combine, with an ability to finish each other’s phrases or to anticipate their partner’s next move.
Recorded at the Yahama Showrom, the set reflects the acoustics of the pianos beautifully, but also captures the manner in which these two pianists follows each other’s moves like ballroom dancers (albeit, in a partnership where the roll of lead keeps shifting In unpredictable ways). So, Poppy passed away as these tunes played, and I have to say that I couldn’t imagine a more fitting send off for her. But, more than that, I hope that these tunes can be the music to any time when you feel like you need guidance because they contain sage advice and the wisdom of the well-constructed musical theme.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Jellymould: JM-JJ032
Sam Leak: piano; Dan Tepfer: piano
Recorded in January 2016 by Dan Tepfer at The Yamaha Showroom, Manhattan, New York
I wrote this review as my cat, Poppy, aged around 16, came to the end of her life. So, while I had listened to the album several times before sitting down to write the review, as I normally do, prior to writing the review, I was listening with an ailing cat wrapped in a blanket on my lap. I’m not sure whether this coloured my impressions of the music, but there is something liturgical in the structure of the pieces and a feeling that one is participating in, not only a musical development but also, a well-defined philosophical meditation. This might make the music sound a little maudlin or overly intellectual, but that is not the case. This is a set of 8 pieces (titled Adrift I to VIII) that Leak composed for the Steinway Festival in 2014.
The title comes from a line in a song that is the focal point for an album by Tom Waits (‘Alice’), and it is worth reminding ourselves of the lyrical context of this word, ‘and so a secret kiss. Brings madness with the bliss / And I will think of this. When I’m dead and in my grave / Set me adrift and I’m lost over there / and I must be insane. To go skating on your name / And by tracing it twice, I fell through the ice.” Hopefully, this will forgive my opening lines (assuming you’ve owned or lost a pet) but this does not explain the frailty that the closing lines express. While the pieces have a delicate logic, in Leak’s compositions, the music develops its own logic and themes that feel as if the duo are seeking ice that is less secure than that the original ideas might have charted. Not only does the music have its own language (working a delicate minimalism) but each player is able to speak it in his own idiom. At times it is not easy to work out who has taken the lead and who is providing support, although there is a clear demarcation of roles as the pieces develop. What is even more surprising here is how well the players combine, with an ability to finish each other’s phrases or to anticipate their partner’s next move.
Recorded at the Yahama Showrom, the set reflects the acoustics of the pianos beautifully, but also captures the manner in which these two pianists follows each other’s moves like ballroom dancers (albeit, in a partnership where the roll of lead keeps shifting In unpredictable ways). So, Poppy passed away as these tunes played, and I have to say that I couldn’t imagine a more fitting send off for her. But, more than that, I hope that these tunes can be the music to any time when you feel like you need guidance because they contain sage advice and the wisdom of the well-constructed musical theme.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
